Aqaba

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It is a journey of four days time from Salalah, Oman to the port of Aqaba, Jordan our next destination. To some that may seem like much too long, but I enjoy it. I like to think of Nautica as an ocean liner, not a cruise ship. This is the way people traveled around the world until air travel came along and made us impatient to get to where we want and do it as quickly as possible. Much is lost in the process. It really is the journey, not the destination that is most important, at least I think so.



I am spending much time reclining in a deck chair on the deck five promenade looking out at the sea and thinking. Most of the time there is only the sea, the sky and the horizon which bends down at the far edges just enough to suggest the curve of the earth. But at other times a bit of land will appear indicating another exotic place nearby. This morning I saw some small villages and a couple of lighthouses on the very western tip of Yemen just before we entered the Red Sea. Djibouti in Africa is directly opposite. Just now I noticed a range of craggy mountains in the distance. That is Saudi Arabia. Later this afternoon we are told we may see the top of an island just emerging from the sea by volcanic activity. It only rose above the sea level a couple of years ago. We have two days now to traverse the Red Sea to Aqaba. It is hot, the sky clear, and the sea a beautiful deep azure. The Red Sea is definitely not red.



Saturday evening, May 5. It is a clear night and a full moon is on the rise. Nautica is nearing Aqaba, Jordan. The stark, dry mountains of Saudi Arabia are visible on the starboard side, the sharp peaks and deep valleys of the Sinai on the port. The glow from the setting sun has lent a reddish tinge to the desert landscape on the Arabian coast to the east; hence the origin of the name the “Red Sea”. I just saw a school of small porpoise playfully swimming along side the ship. There are lights from a few small villages along both coasts but little else to suggest habitation though I know this area has been lived in for several millennia. Early tomorrow morning the ship will arrive in port at the very northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba where the borders of Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia all converge. This is quite an experience for a guy born in a little town on the banks of the Yellowstone River in extreme northeast Montana.



May 6, 2012 A long day of adventure. I boarded a bus early this morning in Aqaba for the 130 kilometer drive to Petra. The area around Aqaba is in a special economic tax free zone and is growing rapidly. It has become a major resort with beautiful hotels and beaches. The nearby Israeli city of Eilat competes for tourists, but Aqaba appears to have the best port facilities. As the bus drove toward the desert mountains to the north I could look back and see parts of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Isreal and Egypt all at the same time.



The ancient city of Petra is so spectacular I don’t know if I can find words to describe it. It lies deep in the mountains and was carved out of the rock walls by ancient peoples. The approach to the site requires walking more than a mile through a narrow “siq” which is an Arabic word meaning a narrow passage between rocks. That’s exactly what it is. The rock walls tower hundreds of feet over a pathway that is sometimes only about 8 feet wide. Near the end appears the beautiful “Treasury” building carved out of solid pink colored rock. It has survived over 2,000 years. It was originally built as a tomb for a very important king or high official. Beyond that building along the widening “siq” are literally thousands of other tombs carved into the stone walls. We went as far as the ruins of a huge Roman temple built not long after the beginning of the Christian era. Just before that lay an outdoor amphitheater with seats for 6 or 7 thousand people chiseled into the stone. I have a picture to show my usher friends at Benaroya Hall in Seattle.



The Petra site is considered one of the seven wonders of the world. It covers an enormous area. I got to see only a small part of it, but what I did see left me speechless. That happens rarely as most of my friends will attest. After a lunch at the visitor’s center the bus took us deep into the desert for a visit to Wadi Rum, for another incredible adventure.



Wadi Rum is a huge dessert valley surrounded by staggeringly beautiful rock cliffs, red-hued sand dunes and little else except a few camels and sheep roaming about. Five of us transferred to the back of a small four-wheel drive pickup and zoomed out across the desert. The heat and dust was terrible but the discomfort was more than made up by what we saw. Once again I am at a loss to describe it, except to say that being in this vast, stark desert landscape surrounded by soaring vertical cliffs was a spiritual experience. It is not surprising to me that this ancient part of the world gave rise to or nurtured many religions. I felt so small in this vast place.



Late in the day we met up with others also traveling through the desert for a meal and music with local Bedouin tribesmen under traditional goat hair tents. We sat on cushions placed on Persian rugs over the desert sand. The centerpiece was roasted lamb, cooked in coals buried in a sand pit for many hours. The men, dressed in traditional Bedouin headdresses danced and sang.



Now after a 14 hour day in Jordan I am back on Nautica which is underway toward Egypt. I am exhausted and ready for a good night’s sleep. We arrive early tomorrow in the port of Safaga, Egypt where I begin a two day adventure to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings.

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Photos

Wadi Rum
Bedouin tribesmen at camp site in the desert

Wadi Rum
Bedouin dancers deep in the Jordanian desert

Wadi Rum
Bedouin tribesmen at camp site in the desert

Wadi Rum
Bedouin dancers deep in the Jordanian desert

Wadi Rum
Bill Kepper in the Jordanian desert

Wadi Rum
Friends Bill and Frau Heide relaxing in a Bedouin tent

Wadi Rum
friend Frau Heide in the desert

Wadi Rum
our four wheel drive desert vehicle

Wadi Rum
Bill Kepper and Jenohn about to venture into the Jordanian desert

Wadi Rum
Our vivacious guide singing to us in the desert

Petra
first view of the Treasury building at the end of the Siq

Petra
Jenohn and Frau Heide at Petra

Petra
Jenohn in front of Petra's so-called Treasury building. It is actually a royal tomb.

Petra
Jenohn, consumate usher, pointing the way to seating in the ancient theater at Petra

Petra
most famous of the magnificent tombs at Petra